Sundance Retires Pilot Programs, Consolidates Others in COVID-Related Cuts (EXCLUSIVE)

“Lightyear” in theaters this summer, Pixar Animation Studios is pulling back the curtain on another new film coming from the studio in 2023: “Elementals.”This new original film hails from “The Good Dinosaur” filmmaker Peter Sohn, who directs the story of an unlikely pair – Ember and Wade – living in a city where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. A mismatched buddy story, the film follows a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy who “are about to discover something elemental: how much they actually have in common.”The film was inspired by Sohn’s own childhood in New York.

“Lightyear” in theaters this summer, Pixar Animation Studios is pulling back the curtain on another new film coming from the studio in 2023: “Elemental.”This new original film hails from “The Good Dinosaur” filmmaker Peter Sohn, who directs the story of an unlikely pair – Ember and Wade – living in a city where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. A mismatched buddy story, the film follows a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy who “are about to discover something elemental: how much they actually have in common.”The film was inspired by Sohn’s own childhood in New York.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterABC has passed on placing series orders for the “LA Law” sequel and Jo Koy comedy “Josep” after both pilots were reviewed by the network, Variety has learned.The Disney-owned broadcaster is interested in potentially redeveloping the Koy project in the future, but “LA Law” will not be moving forward. On Friday, ABC picked up dramas “Alaska” and “The Rookie” spinoff “The Rookie: Feds” to series, as well as comedy “Not Dead Yet.” Four other drama pilots, “Will Trent,” “The Company You Keep,” the Untitled Kay Oyegun drama and an untitled National Park Service project, are all still in contention and will be up for consideration going into July.Starring returning cast members Blair Underwood and Corbin Bernsen reprising their original roles as Jonathan Rollins and Arnie Becker, the pilot for the new iteration of the Emmy-winning series “LA Law” features familiar characters working alongside new ones on the most hot button issues of the day.

ABC has passed on its half-hour pilot Josep, starring comedian Jo Koy. While ABC is not proceeding with the existing pilot, the network brass want to get a comedy headlined by Koy on the air. The hope is to redevelop the idea, which is built around Koy playing a character loosely based on himself. It is too early to say whether that will happen and whether the current creative team will remain involved but the intent is to stay in business with Koy.

NBC is not moving forward with Hungry.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBC has opted not to move forward with its comedy pilot “Hungry,” which originally starred Demi Lovato who pulled out of the project and was replaced by “Modern Family” star Ariel Winter, Variety has learned.The multi-cam follows friends who belong to a food-issues group as they help each other look for love, success and the perfect thing in the fridge that’s going to make it all better.Lovato had been attached to the Universal television-produced “Hungry” as executive producer and star for almost a year while it was in development at NBC, but exited for scheduling reasons just as the pilot was about to start shooting in March. She was quickly replaced by Winter.Along with Winter, the “Hungry” pilot also starred Valerie Bertinelli, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Ryan McPartlin, Alex Brightman and Ashley D.

Some 20 nonfiction mediamakers will receive a fellowship stipend worth $60,000 in installments over the next year after being named a Humanities Sustainability Fellow by the nonprofit Sundance Institute.

Pope Francis and gave him a copy of his Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a young Vietnamese girl running naked down the road after a napalm attack.Ut and Kim Phuc Phan Thi, whose terror the AP photographer captured on June 8, 1972 during the Vietnam War, greeted Francis at the end of his general audience Wednesday in St. Peter’s Square, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the iconic image.Kim Phuc, who later resettled in Canada and raised a family there, had met the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio several years ago in his native Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she had travelled as part of her work as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N.

American Idol and 60 Minutes were once again Sunday’s strong performers, but also joining them this time around was America’s Funniest Home Videos.

EXCLUSIVE: Jake McLaughlin (Quantico) and Iantha Richardson (American Soul) are set as leads opposite Ramón Rodríguez and Erika Christensen in ABC’s drama pilot Will Trent, from 20th Television.

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Gadiot (Queen of the South) and Kim Matula (LA to Vegas) are set as series regulars opposite Ben Rappaport and Alexandra Chando in NBC’s untitled drama pilot based on the award-winning Dutch series Adam & Eva. The pilot is written by The Village creator Mike Daniels and will be directed by Stephanie Laing.

The need for speed! After much anticipation from both the cast and fans alike, Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick is finally hitting theaters this month.

Wilson Chapman editorRobert Bailey Jr. has been cast in “The Son in Law,” an ABC comedy pilot from writer and executive producer Ajay Sahgal.Bailey will play Benjamin Greene, an EMT in a relationship with Charlie (Evangeline Young), a recent college graduate with plans to go to law school that get upended when she unexpectedly becomes pregnant.

Robert Bailey Jr. (Emergence) has been cast as a series regular in ABC’s comedy pilot The Son in Law, starring Chris Sullivan. In addition to Sullivan, he joins previously cast series regulars Reema Sampat, Meera Simhan, Anupam Kher and Evangeline Young.